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MISKATONIC INSTITUTE EXPANDS TO THE UK!

The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies is pleased to announce the
opening of its London branch, which will be based at the heart of the
city’s underground culture, the Horse Hospital.

In its pilot semester, running from January to June 2015, the
Miskatonic Institute will offer monthly lectures exploring the more
obscure corners of horror and fantastical cinema, which will be taught
by established writers, directors, scholars and programmers. It aims to
be a nurturing environment for horror fans and scholars that will
inspire intellectual curiosity and critical debate in a friendly
atmosphere, as well as build a community around shared enthusiasm for
the genre.

Among the topics to be discussed are Jesus Franco, landscapes in
horror, classroom safety films and sado-masochism. Instructors include
prominent horror expert Kim Newman, author of Nightmare Movies and Cat People; horror and exploitation writer Stephen Thrower, author of Nightmare USA and Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema of Jesus Franco; Kier-La Janisse, author of House of Psychotic Women and founder of Spectacular Optical Publications; Mark Pilkington, author of Mirage Men and director of Strange Attractor Press; Jasper Sharp, author of Behind the Pink Curtain and director of the documentary The Creeping Garden; Virginie Sélavy, founder of Electric Sheep and editor of The End: An Electric Sheep Anthology.

These classes will introduce participants to less well-known aspects
of the horror and fantastical realm and equip them with a more
sophisticated critical apparatus as well as provide historical
perspective. It will explore how this vital area of cinema delves into
the sources of our fears and desires, and dramatizes the most unsettling
aspects of our relationship to the natural and social world, as well as
to others. It will also examine how the genre has created some of the
most wildly inventive sonic and visual forms in cinema.

Named for the fictional university in H.P. Lovecraft’s literary mythos, The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies is
a non-profit, community-based organization that started in Winnipeg and
Montreal, Canada. Founded by Kier-La Janisse in March of 2010,
Miskatonic Montreal now operates under the leadership of co-directors
Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare and Kristopher Woofter. Miskatonic London
operates under the co-direction of Kier-La Janisse and Virginie Sélavy.